Google, google everywhere

The ubiquitous Google search facility on my Mozilla Firefox is such a cool way to organize your search for material in the Internet. It is like having your very own Library of Congress or encyclopedia or your own team of experts in all aspects of science and technology. I use it to search for everything including pictures and songs. The thing that I could not understand was how they make money with their search engine. I mean, I use their search engine all the time and not once had I been asked for credit card details to use their services. They are giving it away for free which makes it all the more confusing for me. I had read that Google makes money from selling ads which is kind of a traditional way to make money but appied to the Internet. So, Google is serving advertising content which is well and good for it and its clients but what about the simple folk like me? How is money to be made from the Internet? A very interestiing problem indeed and I am determined to use Google to lead me to the answers.